The Great Dismal Swamp has long captured the public’s imagination; its siren call issued to all walks of life. The swamp was given its evocative name by William Byrd II as he first surveyed the area in 1728. There are the stories of escaped slave communities well hidden in the lush growth of the bog. Harriet Beecher Stowe set her sequel to Uncle Tom’s Cabin here, entitled Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp. In 1894, a young lovelorn poet named Robert Frost decided the swamp’s romantic name and enigmatic aura would be the perfect setting for his own death, and wandered in hoping to perish there. He didn’t succeed.
The northernmost swamp along the Atlantic Ocean, the Great Dismal Swamp is located between two eco-regions, and everything from the black bear to the otter, barred owl and alligator call it home. The swamp has been recognized for its unique properties since the days of George Washington. “George Washington became enamored with the idea of draining to make a vast corn plantation of farmland. It failed, and various efforts later failed as well,” explains Brian van Eerden of the Arlington-based Nature Conservancy, one of the conservation groups active in the swamp. Today, 50,000 human beings pass through the refuge annually, and this intermingling of development and nature has not been without its downsides. Flat coastal plains are prime real estate spots, and housing developments dot the boundaries. Loss of habitat, changes in water patterns and forest devastation have all taken their toll, and the Great Dismal Swamp is no longer the uncharted expanse of the East Coast it once was. Enter public efforts and private groups such as Ecosystem Investment Partners, acting together to protect one of the most unique regions in North America.
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